


Skate Free!

by Oyasumi



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-10 21:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1164658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oyasumi/pseuds/Oyasumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Rin and Haru are skaters instead of swimmers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skate Free!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hydrolics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrolics/gifts).



> Rin and Haru are both around 12 years old in this.

 Rin had been the fastest roller skater in all of Iwatobi. That much was fact. His father had been the fastest before him, and while he was alive, he was the one who trained his son to be the speed demon on wheels he was today.  Rin loved the feeling of wind in his face as the scenery rushed by, or the feeling in his gut as he practically flew down a hill. It was fun – he truly felt free and weightless when he skated.

He also liked racing – unfortunately, this was the current cause of all his problems. Rin liked to win, and saying he was good at winning was an understatement.  He had a flawless victory streak…until Nanase Haruka rolled into his life.  The details of that fateful race were still etched in his memory. The day was sunny and warm and Rin had gone skating on the road near the beach when a dark-haired had zipped by on his own pair of skates.

“Hey there. Haven’t seen you around before.” Rin called out to the other boy, causing him to stop in his tracks. Rin went over to join him. “You seem fast. Want to have a race?”

“…How troublesome. Why would I want to race you?” The other boy had frowned at him. “I just skate for fun, I don’t care about speed.”

“Well, I just race for fun. It’s not like it matters who wins and who loses.” Rin shrugged nonchalantly, “but I guess if you’re really that worried about losing we don’t have to.” He could tell by the way the other boy’s jaw set that he had gotten under his skin with that remark.

“Let’s  get it over with.” He sounded annoyed, but hey, a race was a race.

Rin let out a little cheer, “Great! By the way, what’s your name?”

“Nanase Haruka.”

“Nice to meet you, Nanase. My name is Matsuoka Rin. Now let’s race!”

 

* * *

 

Rin had lost. He honestly couldn’t believe it. How was it possible that some boy he had never even heard of before today was faster than him? It was the first time he had ever been beaten so he wasn’t exactly sure how to react.

“You’re so fast…” Rin murmured after the race, and Nanase had merely shrugged and responded “I don’t care about speed.”

As upset as he was about losing, Rin had to admit there was something amazing about the way Nanase Haruka skated. He had seen it when the other skater pulled ahead of him. The graceful way he moved, every leg stroke so smooth, as if he wasn’t even pushing himself but gliding effortlessly. None of his competitors had moved like that. Of course – he had always been ahead of them, so it was possible he just hadn’t seen.  Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something special about the way Nanase Haruka skated.

He had wanted to see it again. And again. So he started to skate by the ocean on a weekly basis, seeking his new rival out. It had taken a while for him to see the other skater, but then one day…

“You again?” Nanase looked at him without any expression that Rin could read.

“Yeah. We had so much fun the other day, I thought we could skate together again. You live around here?” Rin inquired.

“I do. That doesn’t mean I’m interested in racing again.”

Rin had laughed awkwardly; that had been what he was after. He couldn’t just leave things as they were, he had to beat Nanase if he wanted to be the fastest skater in Iwatobi again. “We don’t have to race if you don’t want to, I just wanted to skate with you, that’s all.” He hadn’t been lying, not really. He did want to watch Nanase skate again. “Do you want to do that?”

“...I guess.” Nanase agreed and started to skate away. Rin had quickly followed.

“So…you ever thought about competing?” Rin had known it was a mistake to ask as soon as he said it. Nanase opened his mouth to respond and Rin quickly added, “I know, I know. You don’t care about your speed. But I think you’d do well even if you don’t care about your speed.  I started to compete a little – my mom owns a skating rink and every Friday evening they have races. They’re a lot of fun and you get prizes!”

“If your mom owns a skating rink, why are you skating out here?” Nanase asked, apparently ignoring the rest of what he had to say.

“Well, I’ve always liked outdoor skating better. I mostly use the skating rink when it starts to get cold out.” Rin had looked over at Nanase and watched the way he skated. He was still using those same effortless motions, and Rin subtly tried to mimic it.

They skated until nightfall, and then Rin had to get going because he didn’t live in the area. He had actually enjoyed his talk with Nanase ,and it had been fun to skate with someone else without racing them. Which wasn’t to say that he didn’t still want his race – he did. He he had to beat Nanase to regain his title. But maybe it would happen some other time.

* * *

 

The two of them soon started up a tentative friendship. Well, from Rin’s end anyway. He wasn’t sure if Nanase actually liked having him as a skating partner or if he just tolerated him, but he liked to think the other boy enjoyed his company. They did end up racing again after some coaxing from Rin. They raced many times.  And Rin lost every time. Skating was no longer fun for him, it no longer held the same sense of freedom as it once did. When he skated solo, he pushed himself as hard as he would go to try and get faster, and though he thought he was making progress, Nanase would beat him again and again.

“Maybe we shouldn’t race anymore…” Nanase spoke up, after Rin was taking his loss particularly hard one day. “It doesn’t seem like you’re enjoying it.”

“Yeah, I guess we both know who’s going to win anyway.” Rin didn’t mean for it to come off so bitter, but it did.

“I didn’t mean that.” Nanase frowned.

“I know what you meant. I’m just starting to think that maybe I’m no good at this…” Rin sighed, looking down at his skates.  “I can’t skate the way you do, and you make it look so effortless.”

“You were the one who said it was just for fun anyway. What difference does it make? You’re a good skater too.” Nanase actually sounded worried for once. Usually he was so monotone, but he seemed concerned.

“Ah, yeah… it’s just for fun. But I think I’m going to take some time off from skating.” Rin waved at him. “I’m going to get going now. See you around.”

It wasn’t Nanase’s fault, and Rin didn’t want to make him feel bad - Rin really did like seeing the way Nanase skated.  He had no hard feelings towards his friend for being the more talented. He was only mad at himself, that he couldn’t push himself to skate faster no matter how hard he tried.

* * *

 

So Rin went on his “break” from skating – only he liked skating too much to actually give it up completely. Upon his mother’s suggestion, he had decided to go work in her skating rink, waiting tables.

“The waiters all wear their skates while they work, so it would be a fun job for you right? I notice you haven’t been going out as much…” She sounded like she wanted to say more, like maybe that she was worried about him, but then decided not to. “Well, it would be good to get you out of the house and you could make some spending money. What do you say?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Rin really did miss skating a lot.  ‘At least speed doesn’t matter when you’re working in a restaurant. I guess I’m more suited to this kind of thing.’

It was for this reason alone that Rin was at the skating rink the day when Nanase showed up. His first instinct was to hide, which was ridiculous – it’s not like he was avoiding the other boy, he just hadn’t run into him because he hadn’t been in his area lately. But it was a bit awkward after how he parted from Nanase last time.

Rin didn’t exactly have time to decide what to do or where to hide though. Nanase’s eyes landed right on him and he started making his way over.

‘Alright, play it cool, Rin. So I haven’t seen him for a few weeks. This is no big deal…’

“Oh, hey there. What brings you here?” Rin called to him, crossing both arms behind his head casually.

“…I just wondered where you’ve been lately. You used to come bother me every week.” Nanase pointed out. Rin wasn’t sure he was exactly okay with his use of ‘bother’ in that sentence. “And then I remembered you told me your mom owned a skating rink. This was the only one around here. So I came to see if you were around.”

“…You made all that effort just to find me?” Rin was honestly surprised.

“Yeah. I like skating with you.” Nanase said it like it was nothing, but to Rin it was huge. It was the first time he was getting confirmation that Nanase liked spending time with him.  “Are our races really such a big deal that you won’t skate anymore?”

Rin frowned. “I don’t know how to explain it.  It’s not that it really matters, I guess. I wasn’t seriously competing yet. But that’s just the thing… I always thought I was one of the fastest skaters, and yet someone beat me before I was even in the competition. All this time I wasn’t nearly as good as I thought I was. So if I did start competing, what chance would I have?”

“It’s not like you have to win every time to be competitive. I think you should just skate because it’s something you love to do.”

Rin wasn't so sure he agreed. But still, Nanase had come searching for him, and that counted for something right? “It means a lot to me that you came out all this way just to see me again. I didn’t think you cared that much.” He admitted with a small laugh.

“If I didn’t like having you around, I wouldn’t have stayed in our meeting spot every day.” Rin hadn’t even been aware there was a meeting spot. He’d just skate down to the beach and if Nanase was around, he was around. “So, will you come out again and skate with me?”

“I guess I won’t get better if I don’t keep trying.” Rin smiled a bit and Nanase nodded.

* * *

 

The next day, Rin skated down to the beach and sure enough, the other boy was there, standing near a street lamp. Come to think of it, he was always hanging around there. That was probably the meeting spot.

“Come on, Haru. Are you ready to skate?”

“...Haru?” He seemed a bit surprised by the sudden switch in title, but just as quickly it faded. “Yeah, let’s go...Rin.”

Rin wasn’t sure if he would ever be able to beat his rival. It still bothered him a little -but skating by Haru's side in that moment, enjoying the open air and watching his graceful movements - it didn’t really seem to matter. 

**Author's Note:**

> To riverwife, I know this doesn't fill the prompt exactly, but I hope you ended up liking it anyway. (And if you didn't, I'm sorry!) Happy Rinday!


End file.
